Thoughts and links from the crew of the On Computers Radio Show as we wander the Web.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

An E-mail to send your friends today about the WMF 0 Day Exploit

You can cut-n-paste this and send it to your friends and relatives that may need your help.

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Dear Friends,

You know that I don't often send warnings like this, but there is a serious problem on the Internet that impacts versions of Windows -- everything 98 and newer including a fully updated Windows XP with Service Pack 2. Your computer can get infected with this bad stuff just by looking at a picture on the Internet or in e-mail. I know this almost sounds like so many hoaxes in the past, but I can assure you it is not.

This was fully discussed in the first hour of the January 1, 2006, On Computers show which is podcast on http://oncomputerstips.blogspot.com

You can also download the show at http://www.oncomputers.info/archivehome.shtml

Please download and run this patch from Sans (a very reputable Internet site):

http://handlers.sans.org/tliston/wmffix_hexblog13.exe

It installs like a normal Windows program. You will need to restart your computer after you install it.

When the official Microsoft fix arrives you can uninstall this patch as a normal program and install the official Microsoft patch.

If you need more help, please contact me. I'm here if you need additional help.

Your Friend,

P.S. If you are up to some techincal reading, here is a complete FAQ. at the Sans Internet storm center

http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=994

Right now, I consider isc.sans.org to be the best source of information on this exploit.